The system we are using bases the ranking strictly on current form, looking at results and
opponents (and their form) over the past handful of games. We give no weight to standings,
projections or prior achievement.

Galaxy 2 FC Dallas 0 Game story. "I thought Jose (Villarreal) was outstanding," said Galaxy coach
Bruce Arena. "Really an alert play to set up the first goal. A solid 30 minutes." Quotable: David
was a little sick," said coach Bruce Arena about David Beckham heading down the tunnel early

The LA Galaxy cruised to a home victory over FC Dallas and Sporting KC were held at home by the
Red Bulls in Major League Soccer on August 26, 2012.

Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 FC Dallas

The Galaxy solidified their playoff chances with a strong home at the Home Depot Center. Juninho
scored his third goal in two matches in the 66th minute and Todd Dunivant sealed the win with an
84th minute strike.

Sunday night's (6 PM start, ignore your ticket) game between the Seattle Sounders and LA Galaxy
is a contest for 3rd at this point. Either side could go on a run and avoid the Play-in Round.
Watching the two teams with the strongest records since the Sounders joined MLS will be about
60,000 - a league match, no gimmicks.

One of my favorite weekends of the year typically happens during the first week of the New Year.
Once the hangover from New Year's Eve has finally begun to subside, there's usually another
excellent opportunity to head over to the pub and start an all-day drinking session.

Such is the magic of the English Football Association (FA) Cup Third Round, when English Premier
League sides finally enter the tournament.

There were 12 matches over this week. Three mid-week and nine over the holiday weekend. That's a
lot of soccer, but I still want to watch more. Why couldn't the MLS schedule a game on Memorial
Day? There are 3 Canadian teams that aren't participating in the US Open Cup. Nothing would scream
"memorializing those who fought for American liberty" more than teams from Vancouver and French
speaking Montreal in a game that is overwhelmingly popular everywhere except America.

International soccer star David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy had plenty of praise and goodwill
for the Dynamo, their fans and the beautiful oven otherwise known as BBVA Compass Stadium. But
after the Dynamo beat the Galaxy 2-1 Saturday, it was a bit of an understatement to say the L.A.
Galaxy star had his [.

With the European Championships coming up fast on the horizon, some of the tournament's
favorites will be in action today fine-tuning their teams ahead of the summer's biggest event.

Spain takes on Serbia today in what shoul be an entertaining encounter. The Spanish will be
without their Barcelona-based stars (as well as their Athletic Bilbao contingent), with both clubs
having just played in the Copa Del Rey Final, but should still have plenty of firepower on
display.

Good afternoon! It's matchday @The Cathedral of Football, Red Bull Arena (built by Makita)! In
tonight's installment, our glorious Red Bulls take on Western Conference powerhouse Chivas USA
(7:00pm ET, MSG+, match notes here). This could be a history-making fixture, so let's see how both
teams come into this one.

Seattle Sounder's beat a Beckham and Keane-less LA Galaxy 2-0 over in the MLS last night, with
Fredy Montero's 48th-minute exocet definitely the goal of the game the ColombianÂ strikerÂ smashing
his first goal of the season into Bill Gaudette'sÂ top corner from roughly the length of a Blue
Whale (90 feet) out.

Colorado Rapids 1 Galaxy 2 It was a road win the Galaxy deserved, dominating Colorado and taking a
2-0 lead only for a non existent PK call (c'mon MLS refs you have to actually see cobntact,
especially in the box, not just assume it occurs if an attacker goes down)

Picks are gonna be super quick this week from me. Day job has got me tied up more than normal
so, yeah, I'm sure you all know how that goes. So no real explanation on the picks this week, just
straight guesses. Booya.

The big news from CONCACAF this week: Toronto FC defeated the LA Galaxy to become the first
Canadian club to make the semifinals of the CONCACAF Champions League. On March 7 in Toronto, the
Canadian side looked like they were about to upset the Galaxy 2-1, until Landon Donovan scored in
the 89th minute to give LA a road draw 2-2 in the first leg.

CARSON, Calif. -- Toronto FC made Canadian soccer history by knocking off the LA Galaxy, 2-1 to
be the first Canadian side to advance to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Champions League. TFC will
take on Mexican side Santos Laguna in the CCL semifinals.

[This post will get bumped to the top on CCL matchdays.] Below are collated results for the
knockout stage of the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League. Ties are two-leg series, aggregate goals,
away goals rule in effect unless the tie goes to extra time in the second leg. Winners of each
round are highlighted in bold red lettering.

Last night, the New England Revolution kicked off the preseason Desert Diamond Cup tournament in
style with a thrilling 3-2 win over reigning the reigning MLS Cup champion Los Angeles Galaxy.
Benny Feilhaber scored a stunning bicycle kick to open the floodgates, and goals from John Lozano
and Jeremiah White canceled out efforts from Edson Buddle and Mike Magee to mark the first time the
Revs have scored three goals in a winning effort against MLS competition since that fated match
against Sporting KC early last season.

Jimmy Golen of the Associated Press reports that Taylor Twellman told a conference on brain trauma
and concussions that the New England Revolution doctors missed treated him, and even sent him back
into a game even after he said he had a concussion.

With MOST of the final weekend of the 2011 MLS regular season being played today, we will have a
very clear picture of what the playoff match-ups will be for the playoffs once tonight's matches
are finished. With that in mind, we will be listing the match-ups and tonight's results so you can
have an updated look at what the playoffs look like.

Long-time South Bay resident and former Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid is taking aim at the Galaxy,
despite the slim chance the Seattle Sounders have of catching the MLS leaders in the race for the
Supporters' Shield reports Associated Press Sports Writer Tim Booth:

The Dynamo got a point against the Fire and while they remain in the playoffs, the Portland
Timbers are hot on their tails. Here's what happened this weekend and how it changed the playoff
picture. No new teams clinched a playoff spot, but Toronto and New England were eliminated from
playoff contention.

Here is a bit of a statistical look at Sporting's road form this season and how it compares to the
rest of the league all time and KC's road history. For comparison purposes I mainly did the
non-shootout years where the game wasn't decided by the shootout for a more level comparison. I do
throw the shootout years out in a few of the comparisons though.

Everything broke right for the Dynamo over the weekend and after some stress and worry, Houston
is in the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs! The only thing we don't know is whether they can avoid the wild
card round. Events later this week will decide that.

If the Dynamo want to avoid playing a wild card match, they need to defeat the Galaxy at home on
Sunday and they need some help.

Thierry Henry replaces David Beckham as MLS's most highly paid player. The former Arsenal
striker earns a base salary of $5m which increases to $5.6m with compensation included. Next in
line, Henry's Red Bull team mate, defender Rafa Marquez with a $4.